I think I have to just admit that what counts as accepted Tolkien scholarship within the fandom is just going to frustrate me no end & stop trying to engage with it out of a misguided desire for in-depth readings of the texts. The defensiveness is tedious

The fic you’re writing rn is way better scholarship than anything out of tolkien studies IMHO

It produces bad scholarship - I don't think I've read such self-referrent readings, no attempt at situating Tolkien within a school of thought, a distinct disavowal of Tolkien's Catholicism except where it lends a positive sheen to the texts - and glaring blind spots.